Founded in 1849 by Eliam Eliakim Barney and Ebenezer Thresher as Thresher, Packard & Company, it changed names as partners came and went:
1850: E. Thresher & Company
1854: Barney, Parker & Company - after Caleb Parker joined the firm
1867: The Barney & Smith Manufacturing Company - joined by E.E. Barney, Preserved Smith, J.D. Platt, E.J. Barney and A.E.E. Stevens
1892: The Barney & Smith Car Company
Coach GN 3261, built in 1906.
Barney & Smith faced challenges from bigger railcar makers in the late 1890s and early 1900s and went into receivership in 1913, when the Great Dayton Flood damaged its facilities; the company finally disappeared in 1921.